When a taxidermist or artist wants to artificially recreate anatomical features, typically the hardest “feature” to recreate correctly are the eyes. The eyes give “life” to a re-creation so the correct eye look is paramount if the re-creation is to “look alive”. Specifically, the artificial eyes must be correctly oriented in the eye sockets of the sculpture. Generally, the first step in orientation is leveling both opposing eye pupils with each other. This is difficult because both eyes must be symmetrical with each other. Many eyes have very dark irises or are entirely very dark, so that the pupils are only slightly darker than their surroundings and can be seen only in perfect lighting. This makes it very difficult to “level” both eye pupils with each other. As a result of this difficulty, some in the artificial eye business make very dark eyes with no pupils so as to avoid a possible misalignment. This, of course, is anatomically incorrect, thus not an option for a realistic eye recreation.
Some animals, for example, a fox, have vertical slit pupils, whereas other animals, for example, a deer, have horizontal pupils and other animals, for example, a bear, have round pupils. Where the pupil is not perfectly circular, the orientation of the pupil is important to a realistic appearance for several reasons. First, the eyes of different animals are naturally set at different angles with regard to the “straight ahead” direction. For example, a dog's eyes are at almost 0° to straight ahead, whereas some bird species have their eyes at almost 90° to straight ahead. A white-tailed deer's eyes are at approximately 45° to straight ahead. Moreover, there are variations in shape and size even for different sized animals of the same species.
Secondly, most taxidermy mannequins and other forms have sockets that are incorporated to give this angle. In addition, the eyes of many animals move in cooperation, so that the two eyes appear to be looking in the same direction, or converging slightly if the animal is focused on a nearby object. As a result, when a mounted animal appears to be looking straight ahead, the artificial eyes can be pre-manufactured with the pupil aligned inward from the center of the eye by an angle equal to the angle by which the eye is outward from straight ahead. However, it is common that the opposing sockets in the form are not the same angle, or are not at the angle expected when the eye was prepared by the manufacturer or artist, thus giving the finished mounted eyes the appearance of looking in different directions from each other, or a “cross-eyed” look.
The third significant orientation is vertical. On most mounts, e.g., a typical pronghorn antelope, the eyes are arranged with an orientation that appears to focus parallel with the ground. Other mounts, e.g., a typical Bighorn sheep, the eyes are arranged with an orientation that is at a 6° angle downward slant. White-tailed deer may be mounted so that the eyes are either horizontal or appear to focus with a 6° downward slant.
Besides orienting the eyes in an anatomically correct orientation and symmetrically with each other, artificial eyelids need to be realistically recreated. This is generally done by placing clay or epoxy onto the artificial eye and onto the surrounding material of a form or mannequin to recreate the eyelids, both upper and lower. Certain animals, e.g., a deer, have rounded large eye openings, whereas a human can have very little exposed eye with slanting corners. Some animals, e.g., a rabbit, have their eyelids equally spaced above and below the pupils, so that the pupil is in the middle of the eye when the eyelids are correctly placed upon the glass eye. On other animals, e.g., a wolf, their pupils are located above the center of the eye, meaning that the upper eyelid comes down closer to the pupil, whereas the lower eyelid is farther away from the pupil as compared with the upper lid.
To appear realistic, the eyelids must also be correctly positioned above and below each pupil, the opposing eyelids should in general leave the same amount of exposed eye surface visible in each opposing eye and placed in the same orientation. If one eye is more open than the other, the look will be as if the animal has one eye squinting, as if it is squinting into the sun, thus giving the mounted animal and unnatural or inappropriate appearance. If one eye squints in a live animal, the other would usually squint as well. The only common situation where just one eye squints is where the sun is shining on only one eye, and sculptures are seldom displayed under such uneven lighting conditions.
It is also usually desirable when re-creating eyelids to have opposing eyelids equally distanced from the pupils. Even though the eyes are equal in separation between the upper and lower eyelids, the eyelids of the two eyes may be unequally distanced from the pupils, so that the eyelids are lower on one eye than the other. The finished eye can then look as if the pupils are not centered evenly with each other, giving a look of one eye looking down and the other looking up.
Conventionally, the taxidermist, to accomplish correct orientation of an artificial eye, must either “wing it” by his/her artistic judgment or capability, or use time exhausting tools, such as a protractor, level, calipers and tape measure, to try to achieve uniform orientations and placements. This still leaves the quality and the appearance of the final product to the artistic ability of the craftsman, regardless of how much time is spent in placement of the eyes and lids.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,919 (Rinehart) describes a molded animal head for a taxidermy mannequin in which an eye socket is provided with molded indicia on which the pupil of an artificial eye can be aligned. However, Rinehart's indicia are effective only if the pupil of the eye is exactly centered on the molded socket, and are difficult to use on a dark eye when the pupil is difficult to see or cannot be easily seen. Moreover, Rinehart's indicia fail to assist in placing the angled eye or in positioning the eyelids.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,654 (Johnson) describes an artificial eye mount for a sculptured form, comprising at least an artificial eye component and a molded eye mounting area mated thereto in correct orientation, wherein the back side (or inside) of the artificial eye is configured to facilitate mechanically correct installation within the molded eye mounting area of the sculptured form. However, molded features of the eye socket area cannot be removed after placement, and thus, undesirably must become part of the final mount. As a result, index lines cannot be removed from the ′654 invention to achieve proper orientation or placement of the eyepiece, and as mentioned with the ″919 invention, no provision is made to assist in positioning the eyelids.
There is therefore a hitherto unfilled need for a method and apparatus by which the eyes and eyelids of an animal head for a taxidermy mount or other sculpted forms, that can be easily and accurately positioned, permitting the use of commercially formed eyes, and that eliminates or materially reduces the disadvantages of the prior art.